The Boss Always Thinks I'm After Him - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Heartbeat Progress: 0.3% – As Expected, All Bosses Are Tyrants…

Gu Che didn’t say much, just gave Xiao Yang a chilly warning: “Pay more attention next time.”

Xiao Yang grinned and quickly nodded, all eager flattery. “Of course, Boss! Got it, Boss!”

Then he slipped out of the office, still smiling to himself.

Not only did he avoid getting scolded, but he even got a laugh out of the boss? Everyone who saw it was shocked.

That just didn’t fit Gu Che’s usual style at all.

Was Xiao Yang really that talented—so much so that even Gu Che had to cut him some slack?

People started to notice the subtle change in Xiao Yang’s standing within the team. But Xiao Yang himself remained clueless, fully absorbed in the new project he was assigned.

A few minutes later, Zhang Rui brought a new hire over to Xiao Yang’s desk.

“Xiao Yang,” he said, “this is a new colleague who just started this morning. The boss asked you to take him under your wing.” He pointed to the desk next to Xiao Yang. “Xu Mubai, you’ll sit here.”

Xiao Yang didn’t even look up, barely acknowledging it with a hum.

Xu Mubai gave a soft “thank you,” then politely greeted Zhang Rui.

Zhang Rui nodded and left to deal with the other new hires.

Xu Mubai quietly arranged his workspace, then sat down beside Xiao Yang, occasionally sneaking glances at him.

Finally sensing the intense gaze, Xiao Yang snapped out of his focus, turned, and gave an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I was just caught up reading the boss’s project brief.”

“No problem,” Xu Mubai said softly, hands folded tightly in his lap, a little anxious. “Is there anything I can help with?”

Xiao Yang gave him a once-over, his eyes lighting up like he’d found buried treasure. He leaned in, intrigued. “Wait… are you socially anxious?”

“I love people like you—socially anxious types are fascinating. How old are you? Which company were you at before this?”

…

“Golden State, huh? That’s pretty far. Where are you staying now?”

…

“I just rented a new place with an extra room. Want to take it? I’ll sublet it to you at a good price.”

…

Xu Mubai didn’t talk much and spoke softly, but he answered everything he was asked. Xiao Yang, on the other hand, was thrilled to have a new chat partner.

But just as things got lively, his phone dinged.

[God of Wealth: I want the demo before end of day tomorrow.]

Yep, “God of Wealth” was what Xiao Yang had renamed Gu Che in his contacts after that surprise raise.

Seeing the message, Xiao Yang felt a chill run down his spine. He glanced nervously at the CEO’s office.

Behind the glass wall, Gu Che stood there with arms crossed, eyes locked onto him like a hawk. The light caught on his rimless glasses, giving him an even more intimidating air.

Xiao Yang instantly straightened up and hurriedly typed a reply:

[XYZ: Yes boss! Absolutely, boss! No problem! 👍]

After sending it, he quickly changed Gu Che’s contact name back to something more formal and tossed the phone aside like it was burning his hands.

“No more chatting—we’re being watched.” Xiao Yang cleared his throat, face serious now. “Here’s your first task: go research every smart navigation glasses product currently on the market. List all their features and functions.”

Xu Mubai tensed up, glanced cautiously at the office again, but saw that Gu Che had turned away.

Xiao Yang, while talkative when chatting, got laser-focused once work began.

After typing away for a bit, he suddenly paused and looked up. “Oh, and one more thing—we haven’t officially landed this project yet. Keep everything strictly confidential.”

Xu Mubai gave a solemn nod, and Xiao Yang returned to his screen, fingers flying over the keyboard.

On the 19th floor, aside from the CEO and secretary offices, the tech department was the core of Phantom. The company was founded by Gu Che himself, and all major projects were developed by his personally selected team—his own office was right next to theirs, so he could monitor everything firsthand.

With the boss so close, nobody dared slack off.

The sound of typing filled the space. Everyone was busy with their respective tasks.

By the next morning, Xu Mubai had finished gathering information and passed it along to the product team. Xiao Yang incorporated it into a clean, functional demo and emailed it to Gu Che.

He was really proud of his work—he’d nailed every requirement. So, when he got called into the CEO’s office, he fully expected praise.

Instead, Gu Che reviewed the demo silently, his face like a thundercloud.

“Xiao Yang,” he said coolly, setting down the mouse. His calm tone somehow made the air feel ten degrees colder. “When you wrote this, were you even using your brain?”

The words hit Xiao Yang like a slap. He was completely thrown off.

Gu Che tapped on the file and asked sharply, “I gave you this project because I expect us to win it. What’s the point of just copying features from existing products?”

“Before you start coding, shouldn’t you be asking yourself—what makes our version better? What makes it stand out?”

“How are you going to impress anyone with something so generic? Why should we pay you 50k a month if this is all you can produce?”

Xiao Yang froze, his confidence crumbling. After a long pause, he finally asked, a bit defensively, “But… I’m just a developer. Isn’t figuring out the features and innovation the product manager’s job?”

That shut Gu Che up for a moment. Then his expression got even colder.

“Nicole’s been swamped with the Miss app’s marketing launch. She doesn’t have time.”

“So you’re telling me that you can only follow instructions like a machine? If what you produce is no different from others, why do I need you?”

“Give me a new version by Friday. And this time, include an animation to demonstrate the effect.”

Xiao Yang left without a word, storming back to his desk. He grabbed the uneaten steamed bun and started angrily squishing it.

His mood was written all over his face—anyone could tell he’d just been chewed out.

Xu Mubai had been quietly watching, curious what had happened, but too shy to ask.

Xiao Yang finally snapped. “Aren’t you even going to ask what happened?”

Xu Mubai blinked, then asked awkwardly, “Uh… what happened? You look upset.”

That was all Xiao Yang needed. He launched into a 10-minute rant.

“The product manager had me follow every single requirement—perfectly! And the boss still wasn’t satisfied!”

“Said my demo had no innovation, no advantages, no highlights!”

“I’m just the programmer! Now I have to do both jobs? Is he kidding me?!”

“Oh, and he wants it by Friday—with animations! He’s like some ancient landlord, working us poor peasants to death!”

While he ranted, he even mimicked Gu Che’s expressions, face twisted in exaggerated mockery.

Xu Mubai listened quietly, occasionally nodding or throwing in a sympathetic comment.

Once Xiao Yang was done venting, Xu Mubai murmured, “You’re lucky, though. Big companies have product managers. At my last place, I had to do everything myself—dev, testing, marketing—you name it. And the pay was garbage…”

Xiao Yang was hit with sudden guilt. “Ugh, now I feel like I’m whining for no reason.”

“No no! I didn’t mean it that way!” Xu Mubai panicked, face turning bright red. “I really appreciate you helping me out… with the apartment and everything…”

Xiao Yang waved it off, chuckling. “I know, I know. Don’t worry—I got your back now. Just wait—I’m gonna call in some backup.”

He grabbed his phone and contacted Nicole, who immediately sent someone over to help.

Soon, Xiao Yang had his laptop under one arm and led Xu Mubai and assistant Meng Yue into a conference room to brainstorm.

He might grumble, but if the boss gives him a task, he’ll get it done—because the boss pays.

From across the office, Gu Che saw everything and was quite pleased.

It wasn’t that Xiao Yang’s demo was bad—it just wasn’t his best. Gu Che knew he could do more and pushed him on purpose.

With multiple projects running in parallel, Gu Che was neck-deep in code himself. He left the rest to his team.

In the two and a half days that followed, Xiao Yang threw himself into the project. They even recruited 20 visually impaired volunteers to do real-world needs research.

Everything was in place by Wednesday afternoon, and Xiao Yang sat down to rewrite the demo from scratch. He worked late, tapping away until past midnight. Eventually, exhaustion caught up, and he passed out at his desk.

Gu Che came out of his office and noticed Xiao Yang’s light still on. Seeing him curled up asleep, he frowned. It was still cold outside—sleeping like that could make someone sick.

He tried calling him a few times, but Xiao Yang didn’t budge.

After a moment’s hesitation, Gu Che picked him up and carried him into the executive rest room. He laid him gently on the bed before heading home himself.

Xiao Yang had said he’d just rest a moment—but with the warm blanket and soft bed, he was out like a light until 10 a.m. the next day.

The moment he woke up, he overheard voices outside:

“Interstellar Tech stole our source code,” Nicole was reporting anxiously. “They re-skinned it and scheduled their launch before ours. If they go live first, we’ll be seen as copycats.”

“We were going to launch at 11, but they’ve scheduled for 10. I only found out because a marketing contact casually mentioned it.”

Gu Che frowned, weighing options.

Just then, the rest room door clicked open. Xiao Yang stumbled out, half-asleep, hair a mess.

Nicole and Gu Che turned to look at him—eyes wide with surprise.

How the hell did he end up sleeping in the CEO’s private rest room?

Even Xiao Yang looked confused. Did he sleepwalk?

Nicole glanced from him to Gu Che, expression unreadable.

Gu Che simply said, “He was working late. I let him crash there.”

He pointed to the rest room. “There’s a bathroom inside. Go wash up.”

“Okay,” Xiao Yang yawned and shuffled inside.

Wow, he thought. The boss is actually such a decent guy… even let me sleep in his office.

Meanwhile, Nicole quickly refocused. “Should we move up the launch to today?”

Gu Che shook his head. “We’ve been planning the Valentine’s Day release for weeks. Rushing it now will mess with our promo strategy—and people might start gossiping.”

Silence fell again as they tried to think of a better plan.

Xiao Yang came back out, wiping his face and fixing his hair. Noticing the tension, he blinked.

“Uh… you two look stressed. Need some help?”